Omakes from a SpaceBattle
by RedPockets
Summary: Collecting space garbage from Red's pocket? Writing fanfiction one-shots of fanfictions? Why not do both?
1. Silencio, Running Interference

Author's Note: I am using this as a way to back up content that I've posted on SpaceBattles. The chapters will essentially be fanfics of fanfics.

Original Fiction: Worm by Wildbow

Fanfiction: Silencio by DeviantD

Fanfiction Fanfiction: Running Interference by RedPockets

* * *

"Alec, what are you doing right now?" Lisa sprinted across the Docks towards the Undersiders' lair.

"Something important enough for you to leave me alone," Lisa could hear his sigh through the phone. "Listen, you need to get down to the Boardwalk as soon as possible," she managed to pant out.

Lisa heard rustling, and then click of the TV being turned off. "What's so important you had to call me while running?"

"Someone's trying to break up Amy and Taylor," she said, "and we're going to stop them!" Lisa skidded to a halt to let a car pass, then resumed running to meet with Alec.

"And I care about this...why?" Lisa cursed under her breath. She had hoped he'd being willing to help just to be able to keep teasing Taylor. "Brian said you were his wingman for his date with Purity, why can't you do the same for Taylor?"

"She got the girl all by her lonesome. I highly doubt Taylor needs our help," Lisa heard the sound of the refrigerator opening, "also, who even cares whether they're dating?"

Lisa snarled into the phone while glaring at a little old lady that had shuffled into her way, "I care! I didn't set them up just to let some middle-aged bozo split them up!"

"You aren't doing the best job at convincing me to help," Lisa heard Alec swear as he dropped what sounded like a bottle of a condiment, "we gotta get some decent food in this place."

The lair came into sight as the stitch in Lisa's side made itself known. "I'll make a deal with you if you help me!" Lisa blurted out.

The racket on the other side of the call trailed off. "...I'm listening."

* * *

"Are you sure your parents don't want to meet me? I mean, we've been dating for a while now," Taylor held the ice cream shop door open for Amy, then continued her line of thought, "aren't they worried about who you're spending time with?"

Amy smiled at her girlfriend, "It really isn't a big deal. They trust me and Vicky to take care of ourselves."

Taylor raised an eyebrow and flailed her arms, "But I could be anyone! I could even be a villainous mime!"

"Oh really now? And just what would a villainous mime want with me," Amy joked. Taylor grinned at the opening the shorter girl had given her.

"At the moment? I would steal a kiss," Taylor leaned forward to give Amy a peck on the cheek. A sudden clatter sounded out behind the couple. Taylor stopped and turned to glare at the interruption.

A man walking behind them had stumbled and ran into a patio table for the restaurant they were walking by. The people at the table appreciated the mess even less than Taylor did. She quickly deduced the man was, fortunately for him, immune to being lit on fire by her telekinesis. The brunette turned and wrapped her arm around Amy's shoulders.

"Why has stuff like this been happening all day?" Taylor started to walk away, "this is like the third time someone's ran into something in a stupidly obnoxious manner."

Amy hid a pleased grin and put her arm around Taylor's waist, "We can't all be as graceful as you, Miss 'I've never worn heels before'."

Taylor studiously ignored the blush spreading across her face. "How about we head back to my house? We can have dinner and watch a movie."

"You're totally using this as an excuse to cuddle all evening, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

* * *

"So why did I need to mess with the couple sitting at the table?" Regent asked, leaning against the alley wall.

"Because they were going to take incriminating pictures, sell them to a tabloid, and help spread vicious rumors," Tattletale replied. She checked that Amy and Taylor made it onto the bus that would take them back to the Hebert residence, then ducked back into the alley.

Tattletale and Regent had been following Amy and Taylor in plain clothes and scarves for the better part of the afternoon. They had sabotaged a "distraught ex" from making loud accusations, three muggings, five attempts to take misleading pictures, and two reporters from approaching the couple. Taylor and Amy didn't behave like they had noticed the majority of what was happening, but Tattletale was more than ready for the day to be done.

* * *

Taylor sat on the couch between Alec and Aisha in disbelief.

"Am I dreaming? Because that's the only thing that makes sense," Taylor said. Lisa, in the fashion of most teenagers, avoided housework of all sorts.

Aisha chimed in, "She went shopping on Friday for all of this and she's been doing this all weekend."

"You think that's great, watch this," Alec grinned, "hey Lisa, would you be a dear and grab drinks for us?"

Lisa turned from where she had been cooking a meal Alec had noted as one of his favorites and glared at the trio. Taylor watched her friend school her thunderous expression to polite neutrality.

"What would you all like?" The snarl in Lisa's voice was obvious.

"Oh, nevermind, I'm not that thirsty anymore," Alec said. His grin reached from ear to ear.

Lisa's glare heated up to the point of causing spontaneous combustion. Taylor flinched when she directed the expression towards her.

"You better appreciate what I do for you," Lisa growled.


	2. Manager, Slenderpranking

Author's Note: This is a fanfiction one shot of a fanfiction.

Original Fiction: Worm by Wildbow

Fanfiction: Manager by Seraviel

Fanfiction of the fanfiction: Slenderpranking by RedPockets

* * *

[Alec]

"Hey!"

I turned to see who had yelled at me. Taylor was standing in the hallway behind me in a blue blouse and nice jeans. She walked forward and pulled a rod from behind her back.

"I figured you would want this back," she said, handing it to me. I grabbed what I now realized was my scepter. It was heavier than before, but mostly looked the same. Her contact had managed to improve it in the space of a single night; commission work at this sort of speed was definitely going to cost me.

"Thanks a lot, Blondie," I said. Her eyes involuntarily narrowed at the nickname like always. I wondered if she realized how much her face expressed. Getting to see the annoyance on other people's faces was a highlight of my day and this girl was a Sharpie office waiting to be robbed. Giving nicknames was also supposed to be a way to show you liked somebody too, right? I never could get the hang of showing affection, but she had come through in a major way for me and the team between the ABB, Faultline, and the Slenderman attack.

"Let me show you how everything works," she said, reaching out to point out different features. My scepter could now give multiple blasts at different power levels, but if it worked like hers did, one hit at sufficient power would be enough to be down most people. A slider and a button were smoothly integrated into the handle, so I could control the blasts. I tuned back into her explanation.

"-and once the charge is depleted, you'll just need to plug it in for a few hours to charge it. The bauble at the end will turn from green to yellow to red as the charge runs out, but it should be enough for a few jobs," she continued. Brian had an excellent point about finding us a Tinker; this thing would be fantastic, but having someone able to build stuff like this on the team would be a major boon. If we could afford to keep them in supplies that is…Nah, wasn't worth the pay cut.

"Don't keep me in suspense. What do I owe you for getting this done so quickly?" I asked.

"Same price as before. The person I went to has a huge backlog of orders, so they wanted to get it out the way ASAP," she said. What in the hell did she do for this Tinker that they jumped from cushy commission work to seriously discounted work on a dime for her?

"I'll get Lisa to wire you the cash, then," I said, "anything else you want from me before I take off?" I had already started turning away when I heard her reply.

"I want your soul and your powers," a chilling, childish voice said behind me. I spun back towards her, shock on my features.

"What? Is grabbing me some tea when you go out next really that difficult?" she asked. She looked…amused? I shook my head.

"Nah, I can grab your gross tea for you. Just thought you said something else," I said. Her face did that annoyed twitch again.

"That's just disgusting, Alec," she said. What? Oh, she must have thought I misheard the word 'tea'. That would have been hilarious; I snickered. She rolled her eyes at my behavior and turned to leave.

The lights flickered. I froze, horrified, as I watched the shadows move unnaturally into the shape of…tentacles? My blood ran cold. He's here, my mind whispered. Taylor continued walking like nothing was happening. I started to hear quiet, child-like laughter.

The lights flickered again. Taylor vanished.

"Hey!"

I turned at the shout. Taylor was walking up to me wearing a red dress.

"You did get your scepter! I figured you'd want it back quickly, so I asked my friend to deliver it in person. Is he still here?" she asked. I paled.

* * *

[Kid Win]

"Taylor!" I called out. The other Tinker was walking the Boardwalk with a blonde girl that looked a few years younger than us. Both girls turned towards me as I jogged up.

"Hey, Chris," Taylor said when I reached them, "this is my friend, Sveta. Sveta, this is Chris." I grinned the way Dennis had taught me, he called it the lady killer. Taylor looked amused, but Sveta was inching backwards.

"What," I asked, "are you ladies up to walking on the Boardwalk this late?" The sunlight was rapidly disappearing and, while I didn't doubt they could take care of themselves here, nearby streets were well-known for muggings and other attacks.

"We were shopping," Taylor explained, "and I'm meeting another friend with her. He was going to walk her home, so I could catch my bus home." I paused, worried. It was great that Taylor's friend would have someone to walk home with her, but that meant Taylor would be alone. A solution popped into my head.

"Mind if I join you?"

Our footsteps echoed down the empty street. We'd dropped off Sveta with a muscular guy that moved like he could tear people apart with his bare hands; she'd be safe with him. I was less sure about Taylor and me, though.

"How are you not freaked out?" I asked, glancing around nervously. Armsmaster had been on the Wards about situational awareness. It wasn't exactly my strong point, but Taylor hadn't even glanced around as we walked towards the bus stop.

"I don't live in the best area, so I've learned the best way to not get stopped is to look like I'm in charge," she explained, "and if it turns out someone wants to try, I keep my pepper spray ready." Pepper spray? I looked down at her hands. She was holding a tube and it looked like the safety was off.

"How long have you had that out?" I asked, confused. I hadn't even noticed her move to take it out from her pocket. She grinned.

"Since we split from Sveta and Brian," she said. I shook my head at her sneakiness and went back to inspecting our surrounding. What I wouldn't do for some of my gear right now. I came to a screeching halt. Taylor took two more steps, then stopped.

"What's wrong, Chris?" she asked. I shushed her and spun to face the alleyway we were passing. Laughter had started to echo down it, but it quickly cut off. It sounded like a little kid. Darkness hid the majority of the alley, I squinted to try to get a better look. A white face became visible as the person in the alley moved forward. My heart felt like it had stopped.

"Run," I whispered.

"What?" Taylor asked, confused. She was too far past the edge of the building to see anything. The figure stepped far enough forward I could recognize its suit. The PRT headquarters was a few blocks away.

"Run," I said. Taylor's step backwards was audible in the silence. The quiet laughter of children began again. Armsmaster, Miss Militia, and Dauntless were all at the PRT tonight for a meeting with Director Piggot.

"Run!" I screamed. My legs unfroze and started to sprint in the direction of the PRT headquarters. Taylor followed my example. It was a few blocks away, but Protectorate members would be there. They could protect us. Just like they did Shadow Stalker, a voice at the back of my head said. I buried that thought.

* * *

[Lisa]

I stared at the pair of girls at the work bench in front of me. Both the original and the clone were happily chatting about the status of different projects they maintained. My eyes narrowed, it took special circumstances for them to enjoy chatting with people, even each other - themselves...whatever. T and Taylor had been like this since earlier this week. In fact, I could match it to the day after the Slenderman attack on Faultline's crew and the Undersiders.

Happy when they're working; happier when things go to plan.

Did a lot of various tasks today, earlier this week; all or most successful.

I was suspicious. The pair generally didn't - couldn't - hide most things from me, but they were now.

"Alright, I'll bite," I said, interrupting their conversation, "what did you do?" The two grinned at each other, then at me. Did they know how strange it was to see them side by side with the same expression?

Mischievous grins, busy today and earlier this week; both came by the base a few days ago.

Both came by the base, made sure one hid while the other worked; talked to Alec.

Responsible for Alec's strange behavior? Yes. How?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Taylor said, grin still wide, "T and I improved Alec's taser, so I dropped it off with him, then went to work on the beacons. Dragon's asked for them sooner than later," Taylor frowned a bit at that. First part is a lie; the rest is true. T cut in before I could get more information.

"Taylor went home after she finished one, so I told her I'd take it by the PRT headquarters. Sveta caught me before I left the base, though. She needed to go shopping, so we went by some places around the Boardwalk. We were heading to meet Brian when Kid Win ran up," T said. Her grin became more of a smirk I recognized. I spend so much time with these two they're picking up my facial expressions, I thought with exasperated affection.

"Kid Win was kind enough to escort me to the PRT after Taylor gave me the beacon. Taylor was nice enough to box it up, so I just left it at the front desk," she finished. I was still suspicious. The entire conversation was filled with partial truths. I lowered the wall around my power. Thoughts rushed through my head until I found what I was missing. I glared at the two.

"Why is my power telling me that you two used your Slenderman persona to torment those boys?" Their grins grew wider at my accusation. This explained why Alec wouldn't walk into any room without lights on. It also meant that this was why Kid Win hadn't gone more than three feet from the Protectorate member on patrol with him all week. I sighed and put my head in my hands.

"What am I going to do with you?" I asked. I heard their clothes rustle when they shrugged together.

They spoke at the same time.

"Love us forever?"

I groaned.


	3. Thread: Justice, Law, and Priorities

Author's Note: This is actually just a plain 'ole fanfiction one shot. It spawned after a series of comments on the Manager thread.

Origin Fiction: Worm by Wildbow

Fanfiction: Justice, Law, and Priorities by RedPockets

* * *

Narwhal sat at the head of the meeting room's table. Leaders of various factions surrounded the table, as well. PRT Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown, U.S. President Richard Gangway, Canadian Prime Minister Alan Snider, and even the mayors of New York, Toronto, Ontario, and other cities had been invited to sit in on the meeting to decide what clearance level the Guild's newest recruit would be allowed.

"The Tinker codenamed Dragon has been responsible for a seventeen percent increase in villain captures in the past five months. That number will likely only increase as she completes more and more projects," Narwhal said to the committee. She had pushed for this meeting to take place; many of Dragon's ideas, while brilliant and nearly guaranteed to help people, required more access and resources than she was currently allotted. She'd been at this for a while, extolling Dragon's record.

"She has even created designs for a prison that, once completed, will be capable of holding the strongest parahumans on the planet. It is to be inescapable, indestructible, and automated. Once criminals are incarcerated there, they'll need an act of God to escape." Costa-Brown finally started paying attention at that. Narwhal knew that the Chief Director had been pushing for a way to contain dangerous parahumans indefinitely without being forced to kill them. This new element would be giving the heroes a way to permanently put away monsters without the constant fear they'd break loose. She watched as leaders sat up and took more notice of the proceedings.

"In light of her abilities, plans, and drive, I'd like to motion she be given a Beta level clearance," Narwhal said as confidently as possible. Whispers broke out. Narwhal knew they were nervous - Beta level clearance would give Dragon access to all but a few Class S secrets and permission to collect security footage from the majority of government locations. Giving a newcomer this much power was unheard of, but she had no doubt they'd benefit greatly in the long run. She laid out her trump card.

"Most importantly, Beta level clearance will give her permission to view Endbringer footage. Dragon is working on a program to determine the times and locations of Endbringer attacks." Everyone went dead silent. She had them. Now all that was left was the vote and she'd be able to tell Drag-

"I have no doubt everyone here will vote in favor of granting Dragon access to this information, but I'd like to ask a few questions about her...less desirable tendencies," the mayor of Calgary cut in. Narwhal kept her frown internal, but it was a close thing. Ah, she thought, that problem.

"I ask that the members of this committee observe the following video," he continued. Everyone in the room turned to the screen on the wall directly opposite of Narwhal. Costa-Brown stared at Narwhal with an intense expression on her face before turning to watch the video that was starting.

One of Dragon's suits was standing opposite of a man that had been exonerated of a crime in Calgary. The man had a bemused look on his face and stood with one hand on his hip and the other scratching his head. His voice, tinny from the recording, was clear and sounded as confused as he looked.

"Miss, not that I'm not grateful and all, but-" he shook his head, the motion left his hair disarrayed, "-why are you giving me a gun and a horse?" Here the recording flashed to a different scene.

"Excuse me, Dragon, why did you capture these teenagers?" This time it was a police officer staring at a different Dragon suit. Three teenagers, terrified looks on their faces sat in front of the powerful machine. Narwhal winced, that'd been a mess to try to smooth out. The poor kids had sobbed and promised to never set foot outside of the law again.

"They were whistling and singing, Officer Bach," Dragon's voice had a note of dry humor in it. Either that or Narwhal was projecting that emotion onto the robotic sound. The officer looked like someone had handed him a live bomb that would go off if he wasn't careful.

"...Ma'am, are you...okay?" he asked. His face was starting to match the kids' at this point. The recording again switched to another scene. Narwhal choked back a sigh. She was more familiar with this incident.

"Dragon, we can't arrest this man," she said to the suit next to her. It'd been sheer luck they had stumbled onto a drug lord that had evaded authorities from months. The problem was that they'd had no proof.

"He owns a log cabin! You can totally arrest him!" Dragon was nearly belligerent, she'd been looking for loophole after loophole to trap him. Once they had him in custody, normal procedures to inspect his vehicle and person would be more than enough to slap him with a bigger charge. Narwhal just hadn't expected it to be this one.

"...This is becoming a running theme with you," the digital rendering of her voice was as exasperated as it had felt when she'd originally said that. Narwhal hid a cringe. She knew what was coming next.

"You use force fields to give yourself a unicorn horn and run around naked," Dragon said. Several members of the board made distressed choking sounds, like something had gone down the wrong pipe. She empathized with them. Of all the things she'd expected Dragon to say, that wasn't one of them. On the screen, she watched her own jaw drop and flap as she tried to find something to counter that.

"...I'll let you take it from here."

The video stopped. Narwhal watched as everyone stared in disbelief at each other and avoided looking too closely at her forehead or chest. Costa-Brown cleared her throat, every eye in the room snapped to her.

"That's some dedication to upholding the law," she said. The corner of her mouth twitched into something that almost resembled a smile.

* * *

Around thirty minutes later, Narwhal exited the building to meet her newest recruit. Dragon's suit attracted attention from people walking by, but no one got too close. She was as still as statue when Narwhal made it to her.

"Congratulations on your new clearance, Dragon," Narwhal said, "I have a card that will allow us to change your rating when we arrive back at the base." She reached towards Dragon to hand the card off. Dragon's massive hands grabbed it carefully.

"Let's head back to base," she said, smiling at her subordinate. Dragon tried to hand the card back. Narwhal waved her hand.

"No, no, you keep it, I won't be able to hang on at the speeds we'll be moving," she said, moving to place a force field under her own feet. She paused when she noticed Dragon still hadn't put the card away.

"You know, there's this great invention called _pockets_," Dragon joked, "they're normally attached to clothing." Narwhal frowned at her and took flight. Dragon carefully secured the card in a compartment and followed her boss.

Narwhal stopped when they were over the city. Dragon looked at the people below her. Narwhal wondered if the woman people would likely start hailing as the world's greatest Tinker if her current plans succeeded missed interacting with people face to face.

"Dragon," the suit's head turned towards her, "you've done good work and you're shaping up to do more," She paused, taking a breath. "For God's sake, change your priorities to not include chasing people for breaking silly laws."

"Yes, ma'am," Narwhal was certain she heard a smug smile in the Tinker's voice. "I'll put that down as an order with the highest priority."

They nodded at each other and headed towards home. Towards a better future.


	4. ToT: A Case of Mistaken Identity

Author's Note: This is a what-if omake. I'd like to thank the people that have reviewed so far. It's nice to know people are enjoying these. Some people have commented that my 'original' fanfic was the best one shot so far. I really appreciate that, but I'm not sure if it's not just the fact my writing is becoming less rusty as I continue. Once again, my thanks for your time and words.

I would like to recommend the stories I've been writing these for to all of you to read. Worm can get a little heavy if you just stumbled here and not gone looking for Worm fiction, so I'll warn you about that. These are all great stories and I'd appreciate it if you'd give the authors a chance. The ones I've been writing for, with the exception of Manager, can be found on here. Manager is over at SpaceBattles.

**Original:** Worm by Wildbow

**Fanfiction:** The Tales of Transmigration by CrashLegacy

**Fic Name:** A Case of Mistaken Identity by RedPockets

* * *

[Tattletale]

Tattletale watched her teammates as they walked away from her. The Undersiders had just returned from a successful robbery on a computer company; all that was left was to make the drop-off for the boss.

Grue's voice grabbed her attention. "Bitch, Regent, take a dog and head towards the Docks with the goods."

Their employer had asked them to collect information from one of the databases, but to make it look like a simple robbery. Whatever they could carry, he'd pay for. That, added to what he had offered for the job, made it a good night for the team.

_Deception; hides the target from authorities.  
__Company kept data on 'past lives'; trying to find more clues about phenomenon._

"Wraith, you and I are going to head for the drop-off point with the flash drive," Grue continued. She had gladly handed that job off to them. The drop-off point was near an ethanol plant - the smell made her sick. Bitch was recharging the growth effect on Brutus and Angelica for the trip.

_Effect on Brutus will last for another 15 minutes; long enough to get to plant and most of the way to the lair.  
__Effect on Angelica will last for another 7 minutes; will shed the remainder of the effect after arriving.__  
__Effect on Judas will last for another 3 minutes; he did the majority of the brute work, tired.__  
__Tired, Bitch won't want to use her power on him; better to have it wear off and walk him back.__  
_

"Tattletale, take Judas back to base." She smiled. He had taken to the role of leader well. Bitch grunted.

"Walk him, don't ride. He'll be too small soon," the other girl said, a scowl on her face. Tattletale nodded. She took care to keep an easy grin that didn't reveal any teeth. No sense in picking a fight with Bitch - balmy weather from earlier in the week would make it a pleasant walk, anyways. It was late enough that no one would be out on the streets, safe enough to get her to the loft unseen.

Each group took off. Bitch and Regent disappeared heading West, Wraith and Grue North. Tattletale grabbed Judas's chain and started South. She yawned, it'd been a long day.

Graffiti covered walls told her she was in Empire territory. Her power told her she was safe. Nearby damage showed a rogue had been making headway a few days ago in the area, gang bangers would be avoiding the area. She idly examined that thought. Rogues rarely managed to blacken the eye of the major gangs and get away with it.

_Rogue work in area, been fighting for weeks.  
__Fighting for weeks alone; powerful.__  
__Powerful, prefers ambush; prefers ambush, does extensive surveillance.__  
__Never caught doing the surveillance; how?__  
__Stranger? No. Thinker? Closer. Master? Yes.__  
__Master, Thinker? Yes. Mastery over what?__  
__Projection? No. People? No. Animals? Closer.__  
__Not noticed, animals closer than people; insects? Yes.__  
_

Abusing her power after a long day like the one she'd had would have had consequences in the form of severe migraines once upon a time. This was no longer the case, however; she had been given a second chance. Tattletale was a reincarnation from what was referred to as the Blue universe, the reincarnation power boost had made her migraines less severe.

Her death had actually been an accident. The blonde had been working a heist with a local crew when the cops had shown up early and entirely too knowledgeable. It turns out the group had drifted into Skitter's range. The cape was in charge of an insanely effective tool to observe massive stretches of area. She used insects to patrol and watch over the majority of any city she occupied. Few ever noticed the bugs before the white hats showed up and every attempt to overwhelm the girl by hitting multiple areas led to criminal takedowns on an unprecedented scale.

Lisa had been captured, processed, and sent to jail when things had gone wrong. Her convoy had included a well-known drug lord that had been captured in an earlier raid. His subordinates' rescue attempt had accidently left her badly injured and help had come too late. She shook her head and focused on the sound of Judas' paws padding on the sidewalk beside her. The telltale signs of Bitch's power had disappeared from him while she was lost in thought.

Things were better now. Her powers had improved, she was on a more effective team, and that Skitter was a world away. Literally.

Tattletale froze.

_Skitter, Master/Thinker; capable of extensive surveillance without being noticed.  
__Skitter is the rogue cape fighting the gangs.__  
__She's due for another attack. Likely to be one in the area.__  
__She already knows someone's here. Identified me yet? Probably.__  
__Outrun Skitter? No. Hide from her? No.__  
__Would she let her go? Based on Blue world behavior, no.__  
_

Tattletale began inspecting her surroundings more thoroughly. She had come to a stop near the alleyway behind a restaurant. Buzzing from bugs were inaudible, despite the weather, season, and proximity to dumpsters filled with refuse from the restaurant.

_Higher insect concentration; odd behavior.  
__Odd behavior, acting with a human intelligence; Skitter's work.__  
__Skitter's nearby. Not in sight. In the alleyway.__  
__Not visible, ambush. Higher ground, on the wall.__  
_

She looked up. Sure enough, the other cape was attached to the wall by her gloves and boots. Tattletale resisted the urge to swear or shudder. She wondered why the other girl felt the need to do that. Bugs were squicky enough. Adding a human intelligence didn't help matters any. Rumors even hinted that an Endbringer had found a way to weaponize insects in such a way that left the Triumvirate scrambling to get out of the area. She empathized with that reaction.

The dark haired hero jumped from the wall to land facing Tattletale, interrupting her thoughts.

"Tattletale of the Undersiders, you are wanted for questioning on a number of crimes. Please come along quietly," the girl said through the swarm surrounding her. The hair at the back of Tattletale's neck rose; using the buzzing noise to convey spoken messages that well took a crazy amount of skill. The other girl was young, most of her apparent size came from her costume and its armor. It looked professional.

Another cape living her second life.

"I'm going to find whoever decided to start giving freaking one-up mushrooms to people and shoot them," Tattletale muttered darkly under her breath. She observed the hero. Last time, she hadn't gotten to meet the instrument of her capture and subsequent death.

Skitter had been a non-combatant. Her specialty had been her surveillance system. News reports had this girl as being aggressive, not afraid of a fight. Tattletale almost wished she'd stayed with surveillance. Being swarmed by bugs wasn't her idea of a good time. She looked at the bug cape.

_Nervous, doesn't want to fight; wasn't hands-on last life, unlikely to physically attack me.  
__Unlikely to physically attack me, hero; try to detain me through other means, insects.__  
__Insects? Can't hold a person down, won't poison me, needs another option.__  
__Handcuffs? No. Zip ties? No. Rope? Yes. Where is she keeping rope? Insects.__  
__No, not insects. Arthropods, spiders. Spider silk rope.__  
_

Tattletale shuddered. _Why _did it have to be_ bugs?_ Why not bunnies? Bunnies, she could handle. She took a deep breath. Skitter often had a bulletproof suit and Bitch would kill her if she got Judas hurt. She needed to use the best weapon in her arsenal: her words.

* * *

Tattletale couldn't believe it. Her kamikaze plan had worked. She had used every weak spot she had seen against the girl and come out on top. The hero had walked away. She still couldn't believe it. There had been moments she had feared the other girl was going to set every poisonous thing under her control on her, but the girl hadn't. She hadn't moved forward once. Not a single step.

_It didn't make sense._

She walked into the loft, removed the chain from Judas. He trotted off to find his mistress, Tattletale followed.

Bitch had met Skitter before. Maybe she'd have some answers.

"Bitch, you've met the bug cape, Skitter, right?" She asked. Bitch turned from her inspection of Judas to look at the other girl.

"Yes, she was nice. Helped destroy the dog fighting ring." That was right. The girl had made a good impression on Bitch by doing that, despite giving commands to some of the dogs. She had even convinced taciturn Rachel to confide her actions in the team. Impressive to say the least.

"How did she fight?" Tattletale asked. _It didn't make sense._ Skitter had been annihilating gang hideout after gang hideout. She shouldn't be able to do that with just bugs. Why had she let Tattletale go?

"Knew lots about inside of the building. Got inside, used bugs to fend off most. The rest she beat down." Bitch paused. "She fights angry. Is angry. Hackles always up. Hurts people until they go down and stay down. Good at it. Does it a lot."

Tattletale was surprised. Rachel wasn't the sort to talk a lot. Skitter had definitely made a good impression. Her thoughts stumbled.

_Good at fighting, does it a lot; could have taken her and Judas down, didn't.  
__Why? Didn't want to hurt her. Didn't want to hurt her?__  
__Startled when she brought up a previous life. Living second life.__  
__Flinched when she put blame for her death on Skitter, one of the most effective things against her.__  
__Other effective attack was denying Skitter's claim to being a hero. Saying she was a monster hiding behind the title.__  
__A bully that hunted down those weaker and hurt them because she could. Because she deluded herself into thinking she was doing it for the right reasons.__  
__Previous Skitter wasn't a fighter, shouldn't feel guilty about her death, and was solidly a hero.__  
_

Skitter's former life didn't match Tattletale's. The deduction left Tattletale's heart sinking.

She'd heard about the phenomenon not being limited to a single world, but she hadn't met anyone that had come from a different world than Blue.

She went to her room to hide from the implications of Skitter belonging to a different world.

* * *

"Guys, we got a problem!" Grue's - Brian's - voice rang through the living room and around the loft. Tattletale - Lisa, now that she'd removed her costume - came out of her room and glanced at the Undersiders' leader.

He was breathing hard as was Wraith - Moira - behind him. They'd both been running for a while.

"What's the matter, boss man?" Alec asked. His voice nearly sounded concerned. It wasn't like Brian to lose his cool like this.

"We need to get out of here. There's a rogue on the war path. She's taken out at least two Merchant warehouses, an ABB weapon cache, and the streets are littered with skinheads in spider webbing. If she makes it here, we could end up in some serious trouble." Grue barked, trying to force the group towards action. Lisa swallowed.

"How long has she been at it?" She asked, voice shaky. This couldn't be her fault. It couldn't.

"Since sometime last night, she just walked straight into the weapon cache and annihilated anyone that tried to stop her." Grue replied. "People have been hearing what has sounded like machine gun fire, so everyone's been trying to stay out of it, but no one's been able to put her down. They're calling in Lung and the top brass of the E88 in an alliance to take her out."

Lisa's mind flashed to the revelations she'd had the night before.

In Skitter's past life, they'd been close. That's why she wouldn't fight her. The other girl probably couldn't fathom using force against Lisa. That Lisa probably wasn't hero material, the other girl was too at ease with Tattletale's criminal history; Skitter would have made an excellent villain, though. She was trying to make up for her past actions, trying to be a good guy this time around. She avoided working with others because she didn't connect well with people; she thought they'd turn on her. In a different life, Lisa and Skitter had connected, been close. That's why the other girl had announced her presence.

She couldn't let a known criminal walk by, but she could warn a friend - someone wearing the face of a friend - to run. That's why Skitter had spoken to her. She was trying to get Lisa to run, to escape. And for her effort, Lisa had ripped her to shreds. Skitter hadn't realized she wasn't alone in getting a second chance. Lisa had changed that last night. Skitter didn't realize there were other worlds sending reincarnations to this world. Lisa certainly hadn't known. As far as Skitter was concerned, she'd met with a friend she'd thought she'd lost and been ripped apart for things she hadn't done - wasn't even aware had happened.

Skitter was throwing herself into dangerous situations, attacking others, because of what Lisa had done to her. There was a good chance she'd die because of this rampage. Lisa had essentially signed the death warrant on girl that looked at her and saw a friend. Looked at Lisa and saw someone she cared about, maybe even loved, once upon a time. Lisa had betrayed her without even knowing what she'd done.

Lisa collapsed backwards onto the couch and buried her head in hands. This was her fault.


	5. ToT: Doomed to Repeat History

_**Author's Note:**_ So this came about when there was a cry for a sequel after my first ToT omake. I took a few hours and wrote this one up; I definitely wouldn't call it my best representation of Tattletale and Skitter. It's more of a "things are awful right now, but they don't have to stay awful" sort of thing.

**Original:** Worm by Wildbow  
**Fanfiction:** The Tales of Transmigration by CrashLegacy  
**Omake - Sequel to 'A Case of Mistaken Identity':** Doomed to Repeat History by RedPockets

* * *

[Lisa]

Lisa fiddled with her phone as people hustled around her. She couldn't believe she had come here. Tracking Skitter had seemed like an impossibility just a few days ago. Can't track someone that's dead, after all. Being a target for some of the most powerful capes in the area was the equivalent of a death sentence, but Skitter had survived. Some reports made it sound like she hadn't just survived, even. She had won by all accounts against teams not even the Protectorate could beat.

Lisa had visited the site of the battle in an effort to find the bug cape. The PRT had sent a clean-up crew to handle the collateral damage for one of the fiercest fights in Brockton Bay history. Lisa had been diligently watching the PRT cameras in an effort to track Skitter and, from what she had seen, any capes captured after that fight were being pumped full of anti-venoms and required medical treatment to prevent damage from the sheer volume of bites and stings they'd suffered.

She suppressed a shudder. As Tattletale, she had unloaded her words into every single weak spot Skitter had and walked away from it. Stormtiger, Menja, Kaiser, and Lung hadn't been nearly as lucky. The rogue had used a solid strategy when the alliance had come for her. Stay out of sight, use the big guns. Lisa had discovered something strange about Skitter's big guns, though. She used genetically modified bugs. The capes were also being treated for severe electric shocks, a variety of poisons not typically found in insects, and strange round burns. She'd watched as the PRT labs puzzled over the bugs' strange anatomies.

That information lent more credence to the theory of Skitter being a reincarnate. Reincarnates were typically some of the more powerful parahumans. Lisa had spent a day helping the boss breaking into the data the Undersiders had stolen from the computer company on reincarnation and now had a stronger handle on the phenomenon.

Three universes had been identified with the possibility of more being hinted at by individuals interviewed. Red, Blue - Lisa's home world - and Gold. Lisa had already ruled out the possibility of Blue from their interaction a few nights ago, leaving Red and Gold. Gold was listed as a world that had been degenerating into feudalistic states with parahumans controlling much of the world. There wasn't enough data on Red, but with the timing of Skitter's appearance, it made sense for her to have been from Gold.

Cracking the code on the data compiled for the Gold world took a great deal more time and effort than she would have liked, but it had paid off. Gold was called so because of a parahuman by the name of Scion. He had worked to protect the world for something like thirty years. No one could quite recall what had gone wrong, but he had executed a Face-Heel turn and started wiping humanity off the face of existence. She still wasn't quite sure about that. Someone as powerful as Scion, working tirelessly for _years_, nigh unstoppable, losing control? It made as much sense as Skitter did, in all honesty. It was part of the reason she believed the girl had originated from there.

Another reason was the ruthlessness the other girl had displayed. When the alliance had come for her, she had immediately singled out Lung for every bag bug in her repertoire. His regenerative ability was all that had allowed him to survive the assault. He'd managed to start transforming, but he hadn't been able to escalate quickly enough. Skitter, little scrawny Skitter, had dominated the man and his allies. No one knew whether or not anyone had managed a single retaliatory strike against the girl, but the rampage had finally ended after the battle.

While she was on site, Lisa had found blood, strands of what looked to be dark hair, and chunks of Skitter's armor. The girl had been injured. It had taken some time and searching, but she'd managed to narrow down her search to this hospital. Now all she needed was enough information to figure out which room was hers.

"-n't send an aide to room 3491, please. Panacea volunteered to take care of the Jane Doe there, so we could open the bed up," a passing nurse said to her aide.

"What happened to the Jane Doe, anyways?" the aide asked. The young man had been asking questions like that all day and it was obviously frazzling his superior.

"You can't keep asking," she bit out, "what matters are the injuries, not what caused them unless we need to report the incident to the PRT or police. Since this poor girl was just caught in the crossfire for the Dock Duel, we just need to give the PRT an incident report and that's it. It's our job to-"

The two rounded the corner and left Lisa's hearing. Bingo. Lisa allowed a smug smile to cross her features before hurrying towards room 3491.

* * *

Lisa nearly walked into the room before she spotted the white robe of Panacea the Miracle Healer. She quickly ducked out of sight without leaving ear shot. Panacea was giving out her standard disclosure procedure when she started eavesdropping.

"-ut I need your permission to heal you. Your burns, cuts, and contusions will all be healed and nothing else will occur. I will need to touch skin to perform your healing. If this is acceptable, please verbal-"

"Panacea, you have my permission to heal me on one condition," the patient cut in. Lisa startled. Why would Skitter demand something from Panacea in return for being healed? Panacea was as prepared for that as Lisa was.

"What? Why in the hell should I-" Panacea's voice was becoming noticeably louder and angrier. Lisa tensed and wondered if Skitter had taken a head injury during the fight.

"You need to take at least a fifteen minute break and eat something either before you heal me or immediately after," maybe-Skitter said. The girl's voice was remarkably serious for such a small request.

Panacea's voice was much quieter this time around. "...or you'll slap a lawsuit on the hospital?"

The girl's sarcastic affirmative response drew a sound like a snort mixed with a single laugh from the healer.

"...Sounds good," Panacea said. Lisa could almost hear a slight smile through the exasperation and exhaustion. "Now give me your hand."

Lisa peeked around the corner. The dark haired girl in the bed had her eyes closed as Panacea worked.

"There you go. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to uphold my end of the deal," Panacea said. Lisa watched Panacea try to drop the girl's hand. The no-longer bedridden teen quickly grabbed Panacea's hand again and gave it a soft squeeze.

"Hey," the girl said quietly. "I really appreciate it. Thank you."

Her statement was as quiet as everything else she had said, but the emotion behind it hit Lisa like a brick. Amy Dallon was similarly caught off guard.

"I...you're welcome..."

Panacea turned towards the door. Lisa ducked back and looked at the phone she still had in her hand. When the healer walked through the doorway, the blonde snuck a peek at her from the corner of her eye.

New Wave's healer wasn't known for her bedside manner. She tended towards brusque behavior and moved between patients quicker than a cold through an elementary school. The Thinker saw a slight smile on the teenager's face as she unhurriedly moved towards a nearby doctor. They spoke and the doctor gave an easy smile, while pointing towards the cafeteria. Huh, Lisa thought, that's interesting. She ducked into the room she was certain contained someone she had wronged.

"Hello, Tattletale," the girl called right as Lisa shut the door. The blonde jumped, quickly checking to make sure they were alone. While most hospitals opted for bigger rooms capable of holding multiple patients, the girl had been placed in a rundown single. The teenager Lisa had come to see wasn't hooked up to any machines; it was likely that Panacea had quickly detached everything before working her over.

The girl in the bed didn't look like someone that had taken on some of the most powerful people in the city and came out on top. Her thin frame made Lisa worry if she was eating enough until she saw the thin cords of muscle on her arms. Thinness and muscle from physical activity made sense.

"Come to tear me apart again?" Skitter said. Lisa cringed at the reminder of their previous meeting. Her natural voice was strange after being exposed to the swarm voice. It wasn't an attractive voice. Not rich, smoky, or strong. Her voice made Lisa think more of a stream. Power from persistence, rather than strength. Lisa imagined it was rather like a siren call. Harsh at first hearing until it became so sweet it dragged you under Skitter's will. The comparison made the blonde glad she normally used insects to speak. She didn't want to imagine what the girl could make others do just by speaking to them in her natural voice. At least the bugs were creepy enough people shied away from it.

Lisa sagged into the door. For someone that wielded words like most capes wielded their powers, being speechless wasn't normal or comfortable.

"Pull up a chair, you have a stationary target today," Skitter said. The girl's words made Lisa grind her teeth. She wasn't here to fight; she was here to apologize. Still, she took advantage of folding chair in the corner.

"Why aren't you using your real name, don't you want your family to know you're okay after picking a fight with monsters," Lisa said. She wasn't doing a good job at keeping her temper in check. Skitter was just laying there with her eyes closed like she wasn't even worried that a criminal was at her bedside.

"I didn't want them to worry. Panacea volunteers here every Saturday and they always direct her towards urgent cases and then John and Jane Doe's first. Helps keep costs down if they don't have to waste treatment and time on people that can't pay," Skitter stated. Lisa was marginally impressed, she'd thought this through. Her eyes narrowed as she noticed something.

"Did something happen to your eyes?" her question sounded panicked. Skitter hadn't once opened her own eyes since Lisa had entered the room. Skitter's eyes opened at the question, confusion crossing her face.

"What? No. No, I just wear glasses and the world is majorly out of focus when I don't wear them. You know that."

"No, I didn't," Lisa's voice was quiet. She watched Skitter try to hide a cringe at giving that away.

"Yes, you do, isn't your power super guessing or something like that? If you didn't already know, it would have taken no time at all to figure out," Skitter was starting to ramble in an effort to cover up her mistake. Lisa cut her off.

"Yes, that's close enough to my power. No, I didn't know you wore glasses. Yes, I know you've reincarnated. Yes, I've reincarnated as well," Lisa listed answers to the questions she read from Skitter's posture and expression. Skitter's dark eyes danced around the room as she internalized what Lisa was telling her. She watched Skitter's expressive mouth twist into an ugly frown when she finally got to the final answer. Lisa watched for a second, then reached to grab Skitter's hand. Her power had indicated earlier it was the best way to get Skitter's undivided attention. The young girl froze and looked straight at her when Lisa laid her hand on top of the brunette's.

"I'm not your friend, though. I'm from a different world," Lisa watched Skitter's jaw clench as she processed that bombshell. "I'm from the Blue universe and I think you're from the Gold."

Lisa watched as the few insects within the room started buzzing. She guessed that the girl was trying to bleed her excess emotions off into the bugs.

"Ah, well, thank you for informing me." Skitter's gratitude was insincere. She closed her eyes again. "Now, if you don't mind, someone will be coming by with release forms for me in a bit. You'd best not be here when they get here."

Lisa grinded her teeth again. This wasn't going like she'd hoped. Not that she thought this would go well, but rather she thought it wouldn't be a complete clusterfuck. She replied, "You're welcome. Have a nice life."

She bit her tongue to keep herself from further alienating the girl. She moved her hand from Skitter's and replaced the chair in the corner of the room. By the time she'd turned around to face the bed again, Skitter had curled into a secure ball. Lisa left.

* * *

She didn't go far. By the time Skitter was leaving the hospital's front door, Lisa had gotten her temper under control and had a new game plan. She watched as Skitter walked towards a nearby bus stop. Lisa's heart stopped for a second when she didn't look before stepping into the street. Lisa swore under her breath and jogged up next to Skitter.

"So...Skitter, we didn't get to finish our chat." The aggravated look on the girl's face gave Lisa a sense of schadenfreude. "I'm not your friend yet, but I'd like to be."

The aggravation darkened into anger and Skitter glared at her. She wondered if it was actually a glare or a squint. The other girl still wasn't wearing glasses. She turned and tried to walk off when Lisa scrambled to her side.

"So where are we going?" Skitter stopped and moved to face Lisa.

"_I_am going to go this way," Skitter jabbed her arm in one direction to point towards the bus stop and then jabbed her other arm in a direction Lisa knew pointed towards the loft, "_you_ are going to go that way!"

Lisa felt a moment of trepidation at the brunette's knowledge of the Undersiders' base's location. She shook it off quickly before Skitter could comment on her silence.

"Mmmmmm, how about 'no'?" Lisa feared the younger girl was going to punch her. A flush was steadily working up the girl's neck and moving towards her ears around to her face. "Has anyone told you that you're cute?"

Lisa struggled to keep a straight face. She'd been told that her grins made people think of a fox that'd been gotten into a hen house. That wasn't the impression she wanted to create here. It was hard, though. The gangly girl was working overtime to keep her impressive temper in check. The flush completely covered her neck, ears, and was making steady progress across her face now. Her fists started to shake. Lisa picked up it was time to stop teasing.

"Let's grab lunch. Say, Fugly Bob's. It's a universal constant. Just like the grease in your arteries after eating there," Lisa said. The shaking stopped. That was a good sign.

"No." Less of a good sign, but she could work with it.

"Why can't you just have lunch with me? It isn't like it'll lead down a road to villainy," she said, waving a hand to show how silly the idea was.

"It did last time," Skitter said. Her voice had lost the rage behind it and had returned to the unsettling steadiness it had in the hospital. Lisa turned and looked at her, really looked at her.

Skitter had a wariness about her. Lisa guessed it was because of her constant second guessing if what she was doing what was right. That's why her jab on the night they'd met was so powerful. Skitter had lived the cliché of 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'. Despite wanting to do good as a hero, she'd become a monster to help people. She wanted to be a hero and to do so, she'd become a villain. Some of the data on Gold had hinted that Skitter was viewed as a force of nature there. No one could stop her and she only obeyed her own rules. A good number of the people listed as having fought Skitter also had severe entomophobia. Lisa didn't blame them. Blue had housed the - Lisa hated to use the term 'cuddliest' in relation to one of the most effective capes she'd ever encountered but the term fit- cuddliest of the Skitters and bugs creeped her out like she was a Khepri survivor.

But in the end, Skitter was just a kid. Probably a few years Lisa's junior. Lanky limbs, slight figure, marks around her eyes and ears where her glasses normally rested, wide mouth that twisted into her face into expressions Lisa didn't know were possible. She moved, talked, and acted like someone eons older, that had been forced watched her world go up in flames. Lisa felt a flash of anger towards her other self. What the hell had she gotten Skitter into that had left her like this? How had this girl died?

"Do you have friend you could call to join us? They can help make sure I'm not corrupting you," Lisa bargained. She desperately hoped this girl had some sort of support system. "I have a lot I want to tell you about reincarnation and the different worlds filtering into this one."

"I guess I can call Sara..." Skitter paused, unsure.

"That's a great name! Let's call her," Lisa said, grinning. The dour look Skitter gave her told her that the other girl likely knew her birth name. Somehow, it didn't bother her nearly as much as it should have. "So, I'll ask again, lunch at Fugly Bob's?"

Skitter sighed, "Sure. She can meet us there."

Lisa grinned again and reached forward to link their arms. "Then let's go make your old life fit into your new one."


	6. Thread Pen Pals: Reaching Out 1 & 2

Author's Note: So I finally got around to doing more of my own writing. This came from a prompt by Lavanya Six.  
_*Pen Pals:__Carol dumps Amy at a summer camp one year, and there Amy makes friend with a chatterbox named Taylor, who doesn't realize her Amy is Amy Dallon. The two become pen/phone pals afterward. Taylor, ever being the segregationist when it comes to her personal life, doesn't bring up the bullying or Emma stuff. Amy, wanting badly to have something for herself, never tells Taylor that she's a cape._

This is actually two sections in one. 1.1 and 1.2 are both here.

**Original:** Worm by Wildbow  
**Fanfiction:** Pen Pals (Reaching Out) by RedPockets

* * *

Gravel crunched under the car's tires. It came to a stop at a log cabin with a brightly painted sign on the front - 'Welcome to Camp Chokicko'. The tittle of the 'i' was a smiling sun. I frowned at the cheerful painting.

"You'll be here for two weeks. I've arranged for a bus ticket back to my house after camp is done," Carol said. I didn't want to be here; I wanted to be with my sister at home. I had read fairy tales about people finding their 'true' family to love them after their own had left them all alone. Victoria was my sister and always called me her 'little sis' and shared her chocolate ice cream. I didn't quite feel comfortable calling Mark my dad - I thought of the smell of leather and books when I thought of fathers. Mark didn't fit that, but he was nice. Most of the time. I didn't get why he looked so sad and lost sometimes. Maybe I could call him 'Dad' someday; I'd never had a mother, though.

Calling Carol 'Mom' had been a mistake I wasn't going to make again. After all, it's why I was in this awful place.

"Why do I have to be here?" I asked. I knew why. I just didn't want to give up on the idea that I could make Carol see reason and let me go back to the Dallon house.

"We're going on a family vacation to check on my brother Michael," Carol said, her voice sharp as she stepped out of the vehicle. I reluctantly took off her seatbelt and left the car. Carol moved purposefully towards the trunk and removed Amy's, formerly Victoria's, pink suitcase. A woman walked towards Carol with a smile as bright as her sunflower yellow T-shirt.

"Mrs. Dallon! How nice to meet you! And who is this lovely, young lady you've brought along?" I refused to look up. The woman continued on like she didn't notice. "We were worried we wouldn't have enough room after you called, but there was a cancellation. Shall we check in your daughter now? We don't want to keep her from the fun!"

I cringed a little when the woman called me Carol's daughter. I was starting to wonder if I even had a place in the Dallon family. I liked Uncle Mike from what I could remember of him and wanted to make sure he was okay, too. Why was calling Carol 'Mom' so bad that she couldn't see her Uncle, Mark, and her sister for two weeks? Carol and the woman talked - Carol looking over the paperwork the woman had brought along - and within ten minutes, Amy watched as Carol left without looking back.

"Well sweetie, let's get you settled in!" The woman's perky voice made me frown more. I grew tense at the thought I'd be 'sweetie' the entire time I was here. No one called me 'sweetie' and I didn't want people to start now. It made me feel like a little kid. I pulled my suitcase after the woman. While she was taller than me, I was quick to catch up. "I think I know exactly which cabin to put you in, you'll make some fast friends there!"

"-nd she's just so cute with her curls. I'm sure the two of you will get along great!" The woman's voice was grating on my nerves. No one could actually be this happy. They made it to another cabin with a number six painted in blue above the door. The woman opened the door, then stepped back. "I'll let you get settled in. The PA system will announce when dinner is ready. Taylor here will be able to tell you some camp rules before food time. Enjoy yourselves, girls!"

The woman walked away and I shuffled into the quarters I'd be sharing with three other girls and a counselor for the next two weeks. Three of the beds already had stuff on them, I made my way to the only one without anything on it - the one in the back right corner. Sliding my suitcase under the bed took a few seconds. I flopped down to sit on the mattress. What was I supposed to do now?

I pulled my heels up to rest on the bed frame. It put my knees at the perfect height to bury my face into them. Time slipped by.

"Um, hi?"

I jumped to my feet and spun towards the voice. The girl that had spoken flinched at my sudden movement.

"Who are you?" I demanded. The girl's face pinched inwards and she kept her eyes level with my knees.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just- you were- I mean," she stumbled over her words, fidgeting more and more as she failed to answer the question. I relaxed a little bit. The other girl had darker hair than Amy and her glasses rested on big ears. She was just a teenager, stuck here like me. She was still trying to spit out a full sentence and I felt mean letting her make a fool out of herself.

"I'm Amy. Are you Taylor?" I asked, wondering if this was the girl the woman had talked about. She had curls, like the woman had said. I guessed that be the first thing someone saw when they looked at her. Most of the girl's features looked like they'd been exaggerated to fit into a cartoon: big ears, big eyes behind blocky black glasses, and a wide mouth. She looked kind of dorky in all honesty. The thick book next to her leg didn't help with that image.

"Er, yeah, I'm Taylor," she said. An awkward silence filled the room and I frantically searched for something to break the silence.

"Oh! Is that Treasure Island?" I pointed at the book sitting next to Taylor's leg. "I've read it before. It was really good."

"Yeah, I'm nearly done," Taylor said, her eyes rising up to my belly button. Closer to making eye contact at least. I searched and wondered how to make the girl smile or even look at me straight on. If Vicky had been here, she could have made this quiet girl smile and become good friends in seconds. I would need a friend while I was here, and Taylor would work just as well as anyone else. I decided to take a leaf out of my sister's book.

I walked over and sat down next to Taylor. "So what other books do you like?"

My actions paid off. Taylor finally made eye contact and looked to have a slight smile. "I really like this one where one of the narrators is Death and-"

* * *

I looked over the list of patients needing my attention at the Sacred Heart Memorial Hospital. I'd been here for six hours now and had handled all the terminal or incurable cases in the building. Normally it would have been too difficult to do that at a large hospital, but Sacred Heart was one of the smallest in the area. It was actually why I chose to volunteer here once a week. It was one of the few times I could feel like I wasn't fighting a losing battle.

It also meant that the hospital could delegate my attention towards people that didn't have the money for hospital care. One quick five minute visit from Panacea and the patient was good as new and could be kicked out without having to worry. I cringed at that thought, but it didn't change the facts. I examined the list to decide which room to visit next. An asterisk caught my attention - 'care paid for by Winslow High School'. That would work. Winslow was a hellhole of a school, so handling that case would free up their funds for something better than hospital care. I checked the room number and patient name.

I froze - 'Room 2114, Taylor Hebert'. I knew that name. I hadn't seen Taylor since the best two weeks of my life nearly a year and a half ago, but we had stayed in contact through emails. I'd never told Taylor about becoming Panacea, but I didn't think Taylor would turn down a visit from a friend or a famous healer.

* * *

I walked into Room 2114. The hospital had designed most rooms on this floor to hold two patients. They gave the illusion of privacy using cloth curtains that could cut off each station from the rest of the room. The first was open to the rest of the room. The female patient was reading a magazine with a bored look on her face. She glanced up absentmindedly, then looked back down at what she was reading. I cringed and tried to walk more purposefully towards the other station.

"Oh my God, aren't you Panacea?!" the middle aged woman said while dropping her magazine. I didn't look up and tried escape into Taylor's curtained off area. "Oh, this is even better than if you were going to heal me. Please help that girl."

"Er, what?" I stopped and looked at the woman. I'd never had someone say anything like that outside of a case of life or death before.

"That poor girl's been freaking out and screaming for the past day and a half. They eventually just knocked her out to keep her quiet, I think. She left some big, burly orderly limping after he tried to help get her calmed down."

That...wasn't a good sign. I wondered if I had gotten my Taylor mixed up with a random girl with the same name. My spazzy friend didn't give off the vibe of being able to take on someone used to dealing with rowdy patients and winning. If she'd kept the same figure, Taylor would have stayed frighteningly thin and shorter than me. Still, I had to try to help this girl, even if it was just to get her out of the hospital. Taking on an orderly didn't bode well for anybody. I pulled back the curtains enough to walk in, and then closed them behind me.

I turned to examine the patient in the bed. She looked a little like Taylor, if Taylor decided to give up sleep and personal hygiene. Her hair was dark and curly, but it looked greasy and unwashed. Her eyes were closed and there were dark smudges under them. Big ears and wide mouth, too. The teen was thin, but it was difficult to figure out if she was taller than me while she was lying down. I guessed it could be my Taylor, but I hoped not. I looked around for someone to give consent on treating the teen.

A man was sitting in a nearby chair with his arms crossed and his head leaned backwards to rest against the wall. His slow, even breathing gave away the fact he was sleeping.

"Sir?" I called out. I winced as he flinched forwards. "Sir?"

"Yes, what's wrong?" He asked, trepidation in his voice as he reached up to fix his glasses. They had slipped down his nose when he had jolted away from the wall.

"I need permission to wake up Ms. Hebert and heal her, I'm going to need to touch her skin to do so. Are you her primary guardian?" I asked. I hated needing to get permission. A lot of the time it would take twice as much time as just healing someone would because of stupid questions. I could get so much more done if a nurse would just ask before I got there. Walking in, healing someone, then moving on would cut out time wasted on reassurances and explanations.

"Yes, I'm her father and of course. Do you really need to wake her up, though? I don't want her to hurt you. They had to put her into restraints to keep her from taking swings at people."

I gulped a little. That really wasn't a good sign. "It's fine. My sister's a Brute, so it should be okay," I bluffed. He gave me a strange look.

"If you're sure," he said. The man got up and walked to the other side of the hospital bed. Now that I was looking for them, I saw the black padded restraints holding the girl's wrists to slats on the rails of the bed. He nodded at me. I walked up and grabbed the girl's hand. It took a few moments, but the numerous bruises, small cuts, and lingering infection were easily handled.

"I've healed her injuries, but I'd like to wake her up to check to make sure she's alright. Is that okay?" Mr. Hebert nodded again.

I took a deep breath and started to slowly decrease the amount of sedative in her system. It was easy to tell when it stopped being effective enough to keep her asleep. Her mouth tightened and it looked like she had started to clench her jaw. I quit using my power in hopes she'd be too drowsy to fight her hands out of the restraints.

"Taylor," Mr. Hebert's voice was cautious. His approach didn't give me a lot of faith in my ability to control this girl if she lost it. I kept my hand in hers. If she did flip out, using my power was going to be my only bet on putting her back down. My breath caught in my throat when she opened her eyes.

This was my Taylor. Spazzy, book worm Taylor. The only person besides Vicky to ever consistently care about me. What had happened to her? She looked bedraggled and like someone had kicked the fight out of her. My hand tightened around hers.

Her eyes jumped over to the hand I was holding. She stared for a second, blinked, and then looked up at me. I could see her confusion. She probably didn't recognize me since it had been so long.

"Er, not to be rude or anything, but what are you doing here and why are you holding my hand?" Apparently she didn't recognize me as Panacea or Amy. That kind of stung. It may have been due to her lack of glasses, though. I remembered her as being as blind as bat without them and sometimes even with them. Her dad - Danny, she had told me before how much he hated being called Mr. Hebert - cut in.

"She needed to hold your hand to make her power work, kiddo. And we're both very glad you took time out of your busy schedule to help us," he said, trying to cover Taylor's bluntness. It was funny how some of the little things didn't change. I waved off his thanks and grinned a little. Not that he could see it with my scarf in the way.

"Where are her glasses?" I asked. "Being able to see may help a little with her disorientation."

Danny reached over to the rolling table behind him and grabbed her glasses. They were the same blocky frames she'd had before. He tried to pass them to her until he remembered her hands were still bound. He unfolded them and slipped them onto her ears. It took him a little bit of effort to get them settled properly.

"Why are my hands stuck?" Taylor's voice was panicked and she started tugging against the restraint on her left hand. She kept the one I held still, though.

"Calm down. You're okay," I tried to reassure her. I squeezed her hand. She stopped tugging and looked back over at my hand.

"What's going on? Why are my arms tied down?" She was starting to breathe more quickly and she started tugging her left arm again. Her right stayed still. Her eyes were frantically bouncing from me to her dad to the rest of the room and then back to me. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

I had to stop her from panicking. I reached up with my left hand and pulled at my scarf and hood. "I'm Panacea, the healer from New Wave, but you know me as Amy."

Taylor went still. My power told me that despite appearances, she was in fact breathing. Her voice was small, "...Amy? You mean, my Amy?"

"Yeah...your Amy."

* * *

**END** 1.1

**START** 1.2

* * *

I usually tried to avoid eight hour shifts on weeknights, but I made a special exception that day. A bus of middle-schoolers had slipped on black on their way back from a basketball game. The injuries weren't any worse than broken bones, but my help hopefully made it less traumatic for them. It was past midnight and too late to call Vicky, so I hustled for the last bus of the night.

I was nearly at the doors when I heard someone call out my cape ID. Damn it. I turned to see that it was Danny. Not nearly as bad as it could have been I supposed.

"Panacea, I'm sorry to bother you, but thank you so much for helping Taylor. You got her calmed down enough to speak with police," he said. He looked exhausted, but the hand he held out was steady. I shook his hand.

"It was my pleasure, Danny. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to catch a bus," I turned to leave.

"Uh, Panacea? I'm sorry, but the last bus running this route came by early. I checked for my ride home," he said. "I'm catching a ride with a friend, but if you'd like I can ask if we could drop you off somewhere..."

He trailed off and it wasn't hard to see I wouldn't be taking that option. Getting into a car with two people, two adults, I didn't really know was centered firmly in 'Bad Idea' territory. "No thank you. I can get a bed here, no problem."

He nodded and left to go wait for his ride. I went to bother a nurse for the location of a break room with places to sleep.

* * *

Thirty minutes later and I'd had no success on finding coffee that didn't taste like asphalt or a clean, empty bed. I was getting ready to give up and just find a chair or bench to sleep on when I walked by Taylor's room. Might as well check on her.

I opened up the door to the room and saw the nosy, middle aged woman had her curtains closed and lights off. Taylor's curtains were also closed, but her lights were still on.

"May I come in?" I asked at the edge, in a voice I hoped was loud enough Taylor could hear it.

"Sure."

I walked in to see Taylor propped up and reading a book. What a book worm. I smiled. She could fairly opinionated on literature as well. We had spent weeks arguing about the Harry Potter series the Winter Break after camp. I remember our biggest debate.

"Hermione totally isn't the best character."

Taylor looked bewildered for a second, then scowled playfully at me.

"Yes, she is. She's brilliant."

"No, she's not. She doesn't have the people skills or basic knowledge of the Wizarding World like Fleur."

"You liked Fleur better than the smartest person in the series. Your words have as much weight as Skeeter the beetle does."

We grinned at each other. Taylor stopped for a second and fumbled with her words. It was great to see her acting like Taylor after this afternoon.

"Er, it's kinda, well, it's cool, but, uh, would you mind?" She made jerky movements around her face and chest. What on Earth was she trying to say? And to think I'd missed playing 'What on God's green Earth is Taylor Hebert trying to say" charades. It took me a moment to realize she was talking about my costume.

"Oh, sorry about that. Let me just-"

Pulling my costume off by dragging it over my head was a silly idea and I swore to never do it again. I patted my hair back into some semblance of order and looked back over at Taylor. Her eyes were unfocused and hover off to the left side of my hip.

I step forward and her eyes jumped back up to mine. I smiled at her and started to investigate around the room.

"So what happened?"

"What?" She asked. I pulled the curtains open and continued to look around. "And what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to find a chair. And stop trying to dodge the subject. Why are you here?" I said. I walked back over to the bed.

"Some nurse came by and snagged the one Dad was using earlier. Just sit down on the bed. Not like that'll hurt anything. Just remember, you sit down on the other's bed and you gotta tell them a story."

I smiled at the reminder of camp. Ms. Judy, the camp manager and the woman who had introduced me to Taylor, hadn't expected us to become as thick as thieves, but that first afternoon had seen us getting so caught up in talking we'd nearly missed dinner. She'd come back by the cabin after noticing we weren't there and dragged the two of us to the mess hall.

I remembered her saying we'd have gotten in trouble except it was good to see two quiet girls getting along so well. I never figured out why she had the impression Taylor was quiet. She wasn't eloquent by any stretch of the imagination, but she could _talk_.

The mattress creaked as I settled in and I used one hand to make sure I didn't hit her feet as I scooted back. "So what were you reading?"

"Lord of the Flies," she said. I waited for her lightning fast synopsis of what she'd read so far. She stayed quiet. That…didn't feel right. It could get hard to talk to Taylor because she could get stuck on one subject and talk herself into never-ending circles – quietness from Taylor was startling. I started to frown.

"…Taylor?" I tentatively asked. She'd started zoning out again, but she shook it off.

"Sorry. It's good so far. I'm about half way through." She stopped again. I was getting more concerned by this point. What had happened to her? What had turned my spazzy friend into this quiet, shut-off person? Why hadn't she told me what was going on?

"You haven't said why you're in the hospital, Bumble Bee." I was hoping using my silly nickname for her, one I hadn't used since camp, would make her smile. It didn't.

"You haven't told me a story yet, Honey Bear," she said. Honey Bear had been the nickname she'd given me because I didn't like typical pet names and I wouldn't let her call me 'Ames'. She'd settled on 'Honey Bear' because "it isn't a pet name if it's a nickname and this way it kinda matches mine and your hair kinda matches a bear's, but not in a bad way or anything because you know bears are cool and you're cool too".

Yeah, I still don't understand why Ms. Judy thought this girl was quiet. It was why I'd started calling her Bumble Bee when for an activity we had to find a nickname for the person we'd partnered up with; she was constantly buzzing around and had serious issues sitting still or in any position a regular human being would recognize as comfortable. She would lie on her pillows, then throw both of her legs over the closest edge to form a right angle. Looking at her like that had made my back ache in sympathy.

I wondered what Ms. Judy would think of her now. She was so withdrawn and still. I couldn't figure out what to say, so I tried bringing up happier memories again.

"Do you remember when we accidentally tipped that canoe over into the lake?" I said, a big smile on my face. Ha! That nearly got a smile out of her.

"That was your fault and you know it," she grumbled. "I told you to keep sitting down, but you're the one that had to freak out because a tiny fish jumped into the canoe."

That fish had _not_ been tiny. "It was huge! It was like a five pound monster fish with scales and spines and it wouldn't stop flopping around everywhere."

Taylor gave me an exasperated look. This wasn't the first time we'd talked about this. "It was a bass. The biggest it would have been was four pounds. All we needed to do was pick it up and put it back in the water. But nope, my Amy was the one that decided the best way to do that was to tip the entire canoe into the lake. I still say I should have partnered with the other Amy, Becky's, so you could have soaked someone else."

"You would have hated it. She never stopped giggling. And before you offer up the other, other Amy, the Princess one, I bet you twenty bucks she'd have made you do all the paddling by your scrawny self." I grinned to take the sting out of my words. "And don't make me bring up Arts and Crafts Amy."

Looking back at it now, it was kind of surprising I didn't know any other Amy's within Brockton Bay. We'd been a dime a dozen at camp to the point that some of the counselors identified us by who we spent the most time with, what we did the most, or how we behaved. It made sense that I'd become Taylor's Amy within a few days. I'd have protested, but it was…nice to have someone I belonged with. Who wanted me by their side for no other reason than they liked me. Who I could call my own. Taylor, for all her goofiness and flaws, was a good person to have on your side. Once you were hers, she'd move heaven and earth for you.

It was why I hadn't told her about my being a cape in the first place. My place on New Wave was because of the Dallon's. Taylor, Taylor was where I went when things were bad. When I needed to be normal. When I wanted…no, I'd been doing so well today. I wasn't going to let my thoughts go there. Taylor would have fought the world to give me a measure of peace, but I wanted her to be a place for me to run to when the world was too much. She'd been that for me for a year and a half. I didn't realize she'd been hiding so much, though.

"Taylor…" I let my silence say what I was thinking. Her face darkened and she started glaring at the corner of the bed behind my head. I sighed. Fine. If she wanted to do it this way, I'd play my trump card.

I shuffled over to sit side by side with Taylor. It was tight fit in the small hospital bed, but it'd work for what I needed. Taylor grumbled at me a bit as I poked her to make her move the way I wanted. Her ticklish spots came in handy in moments like this. Eventually, I got her moved so that she was scooted down enough for her head to be level with my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and make a mental note to force her to eat some food later. Her shoulders were jabbing my arms.

The hug wasn't comfortable and Taylor didn't really give off much body heat with how skinny she was, but it was comforting. Within a few minutes, Taylor had given up on escaping and had relaxed. Within ten minutes, she started to talk about Winslow. Within fifteen minutes, I started wondering if being a villain was really the worst thing I could be.


End file.
